A Novelisation of Gakuen Alice
by R. Robert
Summary: This is a novelisation of Gakuen Alice based on the manga by Higuchi Tachibana, and the Anime based upon his work, with accurate, and grammatically correct English translations. This is Gakuen Alice in the from of a book.
1. I'm Coming Hotaru!

**A/N **I will disclaim this only once, and it applies to the whole story, so here goes:

This FanFiction is based on the manga, Gakuen Alice, written by the mangaka, Higuchi Tachibana, and the Anime based upon it, that was published by Hakusensha.

I have in no way profited from this monetarily.

On a different note, I have informed you that this is grammatically correct, and accurately translated. This is, for the most part, true. However, I am human and fallible, and this story has not been beta'd. Thus, if you notice any subtle mistakes, I hope that you will forgive me, and bring it to my attention.

Thank you.

**Chapter 1**

**I'm Coming Hotaru**

Mikan had always thought that her childhood friend, Hotaru, was rather an odd person, but it turns out she was just a genius. Discovered by the country's scouts, it was decided that Hotaru would leave Mikan's small village to go to a school in Tokyo that only geniuses could enter. Everyone in the village said that Hotaru wasn't just an ordinary genius, but a special type of genius called an 'Alice,' and Mikan thought that, frankly, she couldn't have found out about it in a worse manner.

It was early March, and Mikan, wearing her long brown hair in her usual, long pig-tails, with her dark hazel eyes sparkling, was leading an opposition movement to prevent the village school from being shut down.

"Please join me in signing this petition, to stop Satsuki Elementary School from being shut down!" Mikan shouted through a home-made megaphone. "Everyone I'm counting on you!" She was standing on the desk in front of the class trying to rally her fellow students, few of whom seemed interested.

"Mikan? What are you doing?" One of them asked.

At last! An ally!

"An opposition movement," she replied eagerly.

"An opposition movement? What for?" The girl replied, and Mikan's temper flared. Did no one listen to anything she said? Did no one care?

"What do you mean, 'what for'?" Mikan shouted, stamping both of her feet in turn. "The community's decided to get rid of this school and have us go to the city school instead!" She leaned forward earnestly, and said passionately, "They're gonna shut down our school!" There that ought to make them understand.

The three girls standing in front of Mikan exchanged looks, and for a moment Mikan was hopeful. She had won them over! …Until she realized that the looks they were exchanging were more incredulous than mutinous.

"That sounds a lot better than making a daily trip to this old, run-down school."

"And we won't have to take the school bus to get here anymore," put in the second girl.

"And the uniforms are really cute," said the third girl.

Mikan's temper flared again. How could they not see what was at stake?!

"You fools!" She said forcefully, stepping of the desk, and balling her hands into fists. "This school is full of our _memories_."

The three girls began to look thoughtful now.

"Memories, huh…." One of them said.

This approach seemed to be working so Mikan continued with it.

"You have them! You have them! Precious memories…loads of them!" She jumped into the air, spreading her arms wide, and began to regale them with her memories.

"Since I don't have parents, my grandpa dressed up in a suit and came to the entrance ceremony with me. Though it was a bit embarrassing…" She could see it all in her mind's eye. She had been wearing a pink skirt, and a white blouse, with a blue blazer, and when it had been her turn to introduce herself, and give her goal for the year, she had stood up proudly and said, 'I'm Mikan Sakura! My goal is to make lots of friends this year at school.' But Mikan had stayed silent too long lost in her memories, so she quickly continued.

"Our first school trip… Sports day…" Mikan was quickly becoming caught up in nostalgia. "But the most memorable thing for me happened when I was in Third Grade… That was the year I met Hotaru." Mikan took a moment to remember…

Hotaru had stood up in front of the class, and after introducing herself the teacher had asked the class if they had any questions for her.

"Yes!" One boy had shouted out. "What's your favorite subject?"

"Nanotechnology," she had replied in a smooth, monotone that somehow suited her.

Mikan could still remember the different responses to that unique answer.

"What the heck's that?"

"Is that a food?"

You get the picture.

She resumed speaking. "At first she was just a popular new girl that everyone clung to. And when push came to shove, I harbored a lot of animosity towards her." This was, largely, because Mikan didn't like that someone was more popular then she was.

"But one day she approached me.

"'Hey,' she said. 'Why don't we become friends? As long as our personalities don't overlap, I think there are a lot of advantages to us cute girls sticking together,' showing me a paper for a beauty contest with a 200,000 yen prize, which we won, of course. Those were such shocking, earnest words, and at the time, I thought: this is a girl who can understand how people are different… And ever since that day, Hotaru and I became so well known as being a great pair that people who hadn't even met us used to talk about us in the village. We did everything together, although we argued a bit too." At this, Mikan smiled as she remembered how Hotaru had once, purposefully, drawn a portrait of her with a donkey's snout in art class…

"No matter what it was, Hotaru was always a unique person." Mikan tacked on remembering the day they had gone fishing, and Hotaru had used a remote controlled hippopotamus to catch fish, ending up with way more than Mikan had done with her pole, saying simply, as if it explained everything, 'Real Hippocampi don't eat fish.'

Smiling Mikan continued, trying valiantly, to make her point.

"Hotaru and I were together whenever and wherever we were." Mikan was just about to bring it all back to the subject of saving the school when the sound of a gun interrupted her from her reverie.

It was Hotaru. She was standing there holding a toy gun, of her own invention, wearing her usual poker face looking as impeccable as ever. Not one of her short-cut, black, business-manager-like hair out of place, wearing a suit, and carrying a sophisticated leather backpack.

"Getting lost in one's memories is alright, but don't keep blabbering on by yourself when no one is listening." She said reproachfully.

Sure enough, when Mikan looked around, it was to see that everyone, including the three girls, had left. Mikan didn't let it get her down though. She wasn't about to give up that easily, and, besides, she was always delighted to see her best friend.

"Hotaru! You came at a good point!" She squealed and made to hug Hotaru enthusiastically…Only to be stopped by Hotaru pressing a hand against her face leaving Mikan's arms waving in a vain attempt to touch her.

"Just so you know," Hotaru said smoothly, "this school being shut down has nothing to do with the community's decision."

"Really?" asked Mikan the smile slipping of her face again as she put her two index fingers together.

Hotaru nodded.

"Simply put, there's no money: Not in this village nor in the school."

"Money?" Mikan asked confused, and continued hesitantly. "…But even if there isn't any money, isn't it the purpose of the government to give children an education?"

"That's why they're merging with the city school." Hotaru replied simply.

"What?!" Mikan exploded before calming down once again. "But?!... Even Grandpa…" Mikan trailed off not sure what to say. After all, saying that her Grandfather felt the same way, and was, even now, shouting, 'If they close down the school, where exactly do they expect the Elderly Peoples' Society to play Gate Ball.' loudly outside in the village it wouldn't change anything…

Somehow, Mikan felt oddly deflated.

"At any rate, if you want to fight, you'll do it alone." Hotaru walked away toward the exit, leaving Mikan mumbling and beckoning to her with her hands.

"Don't say things like that. Do it with me too, Hotaru."

Hotaru waved a hand in farewell without looking back.

"I have some business to attend to, so…" And she was gone.

Mikan barely had time to register this, before she heard the patter of running footsteps from the hall, and the three girls she had been talking to before burst in to the classroom, panting, and crying,

"Mikan! New! News!"

"News?"

"Just a second ago, this cool guy in a foreign black car arrived at our school!" said the girl in the middle who was of medium height with short black hair before the girl to her right who was blonde with short blonde pigtails broke in,

"He's heading to the staffroom!"

"That's definitely a person who's come to bring bad news," concluded the tallest girl standing on the far left.

"Bad news?" Mikan repeated.

The three girls nodded. They, and Mikan, headed to the window to have a look. Sure enough, standing, leaning, casually against the black car stood a man in a suit, with dark brown hair, and glasses, looking very stern.

"Maybe he came here to bring the verdict of closing the school," one of the girls said.

Mikan nodded. None of them noticed a wound up toy turtle walking slowly by the stern-looking man's feet.

"Let's try going to the staffroom." Mikan said determinedly, and she headed of for the door with the three girls in her wake.

It didn't take them long to get there, but the window was high, so Mikan and the blonde girl with pig-tails were required to stand on the backs of their friends to see in where a shocking sight greeted them.

"Huh?" Mikan gasped, utterly bewildered, for there, standing in the staffroom, was Hotaru, with her mother, their backs to the window, the elderly, wrinkled, hunchbacked principle bowing to them, and standing by the doorway another stern-looking, man, wearing dark sunglasses, who looked powerful despite his gray-streaked hair.

"Why is Hotaru there?" asked Mikan swaying as she attempted to keep her balance.

"I wonder if the school's closing is finally being decided now…" said the blonde girl.

This only confused Mikan however. After all, if this were about the school…why would Hotaru be there?

"I wonder what they're talking about…Hotaru! Look over here!" She jerked her shoulder sharply to emphasise the 'here,' but her plan backfired when her shoulder hit the girl beside her, causing them all to lose their balance, and fall painful to the ground.

"Ow, ow, ow." Mikan mumbled just as a wind-up toy turtle came to a halt in front of her carrying a letter addressed to Mikan.

"It's Hotaru's turtle mail," murmured one of the girls beside her. This happened to be one of Hotaru's first inventions, or as Hotaru had so eloquently put it,

"Invention # 001: Snapping Turtle Mail. It will take one week to deliver the mail once it has been sent out. There are no special delivery options programmed into it."

Mikan picked up the turtle, and the letter, and stood up to read it. Her eyes moving more and more feverishly, as Hotaru told her she was leaving to a boarding school for geniuses called 'Alices' that covered everything from Elementary school to High School…Today!

And that was how Mikan found out that, not only was the school going to be shut-down, but she was going to lose her best friend too.

So now, Mikan was running, sprinting, as fast as she could down the lane, desperately trying to reach Hotaru in time...Before she left…Before it was too late…

When she finally reached the foreign black car, she yelled out Hotaru's name before Hotaru could get in. She had to say goodbye, but Hotaru's words upon seeing Mikan run towards her were too much for Mikan to handle.

"Mikan, I see you've finally come to see me off."

Finally?! Finally?! Hotaru hadn't told her in time! How could Hotaru say that? How could she just leave? It was too much for Mikan, and she aimed a sidekick at Hotaru as soon as she was within reach, shouting,

"You stupid, idiot!"

"Oh dear." Hotaru murmured quietly and calmly as ever as she took a giant fly squatter out and whacked Mikan with it to prevent her kick from striking home.

Mikan flopped down on the ground, as Hotaru said,

"I don't have much time, so if you have a problem, tell me verbally."

Mikan was on her hands and knees consumed by emotion thinking: Hotaru is my childhood friend but… but…

"This letter from you," she began quietly, talking to the ground, "it says, 'I'm going away to a faraway school…Not only that, but it said that you were leaving today, and that it was a school with Elementary, Junior, and High school branches...?" Mikan trailed off questioningly.

"Yeah it's all true." Hotaru confirmed indifferently.

Mikan stood up angrily, and shouted "Don't use turtle mail to send such important information!"

"Well," Hotaru replied without guilt. "If you had known ahead of time, you would have been really loud about it looking at me with weepy eyes."

"You care so little about the love people feel!" Mikan accused hysterically tears streaming down her face. "You cold, unfeeling, idiot…You said we would go to school together... How could you keep quiet about something so important?" Mikan demanded.

But Hotaru just stood there awkwardly, and said dryly,

"By keeping quiet, I would assume," but she continued in a somewhat softer voice, "You're such a dummy Mikan. This isn't worth crying over. I'll be home for the summer and winter holidays, and we can write letters. Although, we can't use the phone except for emergencies."

"But Hotaru…" Mikan stammered weakly.

Hotaru moved forward, and, with barest hint of a smile, moved forward and wiped the tears form Mikan's face. Then she took the wind-up turtle from Mikan and gave it back to her saying,

"Here I'll give you this turtle as a farewell gift," ruining the gesture somewhat by adding on, "Normally, I'd be the one receiving the farewell gift though."

"It's time to leave now," said a voice from behind them, and Hotaru glanced over her shoulder at the stern man with dark brown hair and glasses before turning back to Mikan.

"I have to go now. Take care."

Then Hotaru stepped into the car, which drove off down the lane on either side of which stood villagers waving Hotaru off with signs and flags saying things like 'village star,' and 'good luck,' but all Mikan could think as she watched Hotaru fade away into the distance was that this was far too cruel. Still, this was Hotaru they were talking about, even if they were apart Mikan was sure that they would definitely….

**March**….

definitely…

**April…**

definitely…

**May…**

definitely...

**June…**

definitely…

**July…**

definitely…

**August…**

keep in touch. At least that's what she had _thought_…

But now, half-a-year had passed and after six months, Mikan had only just received _one_ post card. Thus, Mikan was now lying on the tatami floor sobbing quietly feeling terribly betrayed. She had been writing every second day.

"Well..." Mikan's grandfather said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin, as he read the postcard from Hotaru which said coldly,

'The heat is making me feel lethargic, so I won't be returning this summer. They have air- conditioning here.

'Please send me watermelons.

'Hotaru'

"Hotaru is lazy…" He concluded.

This did nothing to make Mikan feel better, and now she was sitting in class staring out the window demanding of it, angrily, as if it were her estranged, so-called, best friend,

"Hotaru, you heartless girl, how could you just throw me away and run off to some city school."

Naturally, the window did not answer, but the teacher, noticing how inattentive Mikan was being, sent her out of the classroom. Mikan didn't care. She walked out, mumbling under her breath,

"Hotaru, the grass over her is green. The city grass is brown."

In the background she could hear people talking about her. She was numbly curious, so she half-listened through her misery over Hotaru.

"Ever since Hotaru left, Mikan's been really depressed."

"Extremely," someone agreed.

"Even so, Hotaru's been pretty cruel sending only one postcard after six months. I wonder if she's just made so many friends over there, she's forgotten us?"

"As expected, compared to this boring country village, Tokyo's a really interesting place. She's so lucky."

A new boy joined in the conversation.

"But my father said something unusual not too long ago. He said, 'I'm glad my child isn't an 'Alice' like Hotaru is.'"

This sparked even Mikan's interest and she turned her head so as to eavesdrop more efficiently, as somebody asked the question she was bursting to ask.

"Really! Why?"

"Well," the boy answered enthusiastically, eager to discuss this new topic of gossip. "Apparently, this school Hotaru went to, 'Alice Academy,' is like a jail where, once you enter, you can't leave, nor can anyone visit you, not even your parents, until you graduate."

"What's with that?!" someone said in shock.

"I don't really know for sure, but I heard 'Alices' are like National Treasures, so the government created the school to protect them from being kidnapped. That's why they are watched carefully, and the rules are so harsh."

Mikan slammed open the door to the classroom hissing,

"What on earth?!" loudly to the shock of many onlookers, but the group discussing the stringent security measures of Alice Academy appeared not to have noticed, and continued their conversation intently in hushed tones oblivious to Mikan's interest in their topic of discussion.

"I've heard that they're not allowed to use the phone for everyday things, and all their letters are censored. That's why Hotaru's mother and father were really against it, and moved from place to place to evade the government's scouts."

"Come to think of it…" a girl said thoughtfully, "Hotaru _was_ a transfer student."

"But, if they've been on the run that long, why'd she decide to go now?"

This was a valid point Mikan thought quite indignantly shouting mentally something along the lines of: "What is with that?!"

"It seems that once you enter the Academy you'll receive money from the government. Once Hotaru heard that she was suddenly interested in going."

What the… Mikan thought, as someone said,

"That sounds just like her."

And, the trouble was, that it did. Mikan could almost hear Hotaru saying sardonically,

"The world revolves around money you know."

Mikan clenched her hands in anger looking murderous.

The school bell rang to signify the end of the school day and everyone cleared out quickly to head home…everyone except Mikan who was now venting her feelings by writing phrases like 'Happiness can't be bought by money,' on the black board.

"See you tomorrow Mikan!" Someone called out, and Mikan turned around, and nodded in their direction in glum acknowledgement before turning back to the blackboard only barely hearing the two students whisper to each other.

"She really does seem down."

"Yeah. As her friends we should look out for her."

Mikan turned back to the blackboard and continued her writing. Somewhere along the line she went from being philosophical to being vindictive writing things on the board like: 'Idiot Hotaru.' As she finished curving the 'u' in 'Hotaru' the hand carrying the chalk trembled and the chalk squeaked loudly on the blackboard.

"Liar," Mikan muttered silent tears dripping down her cheeks, as she remembered Hotaru's words form six months ago: "I'll be home for the summer and winter holidays, and we can write letters.'

"Liar," Mikan repeated wondering: Was my existence really so insignificant to Hotaru that she could desert me so easily. Perhaps, she could. After all, last year when Mikan had lovingly declared,

"My best friend in the whole entire world is you," and had asked, "Who's yours?"

Hotaru had replied. "Me'"

This had sparked an argument at the time. Mikan had soon forgotten about it, but perhaps it was significant.

Another thought crossed Mikan's mind. 'Once you enter, you can't leave until you graduate. It's like a jail.' Maybe, just maybe… but no…Hotaru didn't care. That was obvious.

"Liar," she muttered once more as she made an important decision: 'Fine! I'll just make a whole bunch of new friends. You'll pay for this later.'

She made to scribble on the board again, but she heard voices, and stopped to listen.

"Thank you for taking the trouble to visit our school."

"Don't worry it wasn't any trouble. I had already planned to stop by before we moved."

"I would just like to thank you once again, Mrs. Imai for donating your daughter's money to the school."

What? Imai? Mikan peeked out of the door to see the elderly principal bowing to Hotaru's mother, who like her daughter, had short black hair, although it was longer than Hotaru's, curling around the ears, and who also had the same sophisticated, calm air.

"Thanks to you, the school will no longer have to shut down."

"Well, it was my daughter's only request."

What? Her only request? What was going on? What were they talking about? Mikan's mind was in a whirl.

"My daughter was very fond of this village. We were always moving, and she was hardly ever able to make any friends. Therefore, after coming here, and finding such a wonderful friend, she wanted to contribute to the school in any way possible…even if it meant that she would have to go to the Academy. From the moment we discovered that she was an 'Alice,' we knew that we would have to let her go someday."

Huh?

The principal looked both touched and sympathetic.

"Oh, Mrs. Imai…"

But Hotaru's mother would not have it. She shook her head and said,

"It's okay. I'm just glad that she was able to be so generous…She is such an odd child. This is the only manner in which she can express how she feels to those she cares about."

Mikan stood rooted to the spot, shocked by what she had just heard, and as Hotaru's mother and the principal turned to leave, the words she had misinterpreted came back to haunt her"

"It seems that once you enter the Academy, you'll receive money from the government. Once Hotaru heard that she was suddenly interested in going…"

Mikan couldn't bear it anymore. She had to know. She burst out of the classroom.

"Mikan!" Hotaru's mother exclaimed in shock.

Mikan ignored it.

"Is what you said just now true? Hotaru…Hotaru decided to go to that school for us? Hotaru went, because we're poor?"

"Er," was all the principal was able to muster in reply. Mrs. Imai didn't even try to formulate a reply, ans stayed silent, as she remembered what Hotaru had said before she had left, when she had made her decision.

"Mother. Father." She had said calmly and purposefully. "I've made a lot of good memories after all… I'm sorry…" Hotaru had trailed off awkwardly.

"It's okay." Mrs. Imai had replied. She did not want her daughter to go off to that Academy thinking that she did not have her parents' blessing.

"Thanks for everything." Hotaru had said, and that had been the end of it. At least Hotaru would have gone knowing it was with good reason…

"Why?" Mikan continued unknowingly breaking into Hotaru's mother's thoughts, "I thought Hotaru just didn't care for me anymore."

She grabbed the principal roughly, shaking her head, her braided pig-tails flying. "Why didn't she tell us? I thought she didn't…"

Mikan's voice broke, and Mrs. Imai took advantage of her silence to explain properly,

"It's not your fault." She began with an expression, and countenance, of great sadness, "Sooner or later, no matter what we did, Hotaru would have had to go to that school. It was unavoidable…Because, Hotaru was so very fond of you Mikan, I believe she tried to leave in such a way that would cause you the least amount of pain."

Was it really true? Mikan wondered. But, then again, she had been so miserable lately that she had been dwelling on all the bad memories of Hotaru, instead of looking at it in its entirety, or thinking about what it had truly signified…

Like that memory that she had been thinking about when she had been drawing on the chalkboard…There had been more to it than that…

"How long do you intend to cry Mikan?" Hotaru had asked coldly.

"But you said that the person you care about most in the whole world is yourself. From No.1 to No.10, just what am I to you?"

Bluntly, Hotaru had replied, "You're crying face makes you look 30% more ugly." She paused to take a sip of tea. "Being cried on by such a girl won't change my opinion."

"But!" Mikan had meant to begin a long tirade, but she was stopped by Hotaru.

"But, when I see you laughing, for some reason, I'm able to forget all that's bad." She had looked up and stared Mikan in the eye. "I don't dislike you when you're happy. So…smile."

And Mikan had smiled widely even as Hotaru had begun to walk away…almost as if she was scared to show any kind of open emotion…

Mikan could hear Mrs. Imai words echoing through her mind once again, understanding it perfectly,

'She is such an odd child. This is the only manner in which she can express how she feels to those she cares about.'

Mikan, overcome by the stress, the truth, sadness, happiness, shock, and love burst into tears,

"It's just so hard to understand Hotaru's love."

'You should always smile, Mikan." Hotaru had said…

But Mikan couldn't. How could she? She'd been so hard on Hotaru too…

"I didn't know. I've been so harsh to her."

'Ice Queen…' She had written.

'Fine! Do as you selfishly please!' She had written.

"Even in my letters, I haven't been nice."

She felt so guilty, so awful.

"I've failed as a friend." She sobbed even as she attempted to wipe the tears away. "I've been thinking of myself without even considering her feelings."

Hotaru had always been there for her, but she had never been there for Hotaru…

"I hate being parted like this. I hate it…"

Hotaru, you dummy. Mikan added mentally, I can't smile without you. Life has no meaning without you…

Mikan paced her room back, and forth that night thinking about what she had heard…

The Alice Academy was like a jail…

_She could possibly never see Hotaru again…_

Hotaru and her family had been on the run from government scouts…

_So Hotaru hadn't wanted to go… _

Hotaru cared about her, but had only written her one postcard… Letters at the Academy were being censored supposedly…

_Had Hotaru received her letters? Had she stopped opening them, because Mikan had been so cruel?_

Hotaru had been there for her… Had sacrificed for her…

_It was time she did the same…_

And thus, Mikan made her decision. There was really only one thing to do…

Only one plan that was fool-proof.

Mikan opened the door to her grandfather's room slowly and peeked in. He was still sleeping soundly, snoring. Mikan placed a letter by his pillow explaining her decision informing him of her plan. Then, she ran out into the night into the unknown with only her backpack, and her determination.

Sitting on the train heading for Tokyo, Mikan began to mull over exactly how she was going to fulfill this daring plan.

She had heard that Alice Academy was a really hard, elite school, the best in Japan, that only special geniuses could enter. Did that mean that 'normal' people like her couldn't get in?

Yep. It's completely impossible. She answered herself. You won't even be able to get an interview.

But, no, that didn't matter. She did not want her relationship with Hotaru to end in such a way. She had decided she was going to see Hotaru again. As her grandfather had often said, when she had left her summer homework late, and was trying to finish it last minute, 'Where there's a will, there's away,' and she believed that. She was going to get into that Academy, and start her friendship over with Hotaru from Square 1.

Meanwhile, back at the village, Mikan's grandfather had found the note she had left him.

"MY GRANDDAUGHTER'S RUNAWAY FROM HOME!" Outside his house the neighbours had gathered 'round. "With my secret stash too." He added, as he looked down at an empty jar that used to contain his emergency money.

All around him the neighbours were saying.

"I knew Mikan would do something like this!"

"I wonder what she was thinking?"

"That's the power of love." One even added sagely, as miles away Mikan had just reached the station in in Tokyo thinking. 'I want to see Hotaru. I want to be the sort of person who could give everything up for what she cared about. So, I'm going to jump in with both feet… To Alice Academy!'

Mikan stepped off the train. She saw skyscrapers! Wow! She say mountains of people! More than she had ever seen in one place in her life! And stylish people! And people with dyed hair! And odd costumes! Wow! Wow! Wow! And, over all, Mikan was DAZED!

"I've finally arrived in Tokyo!" She exclaimed, overwhelmed ,and excited, adding ruefully, "After 10 hours."

Mikan spent the next few minutes running around shouting with delight at everything she saw.

The mall…

"Wow! How big!"

The big-screen mounted above the crosswalk…

"What an odd place for a T.V.!"

Until she remembered why she was here in the first place. Haling a taxi, she got in, and asked the driver to bring her to "Alice Academy." He obliged, and before she knew it, being so wrapped up in the new sights and sounds, they had arrived.

"The entrance to the headquarters of the National Alice Research Institution and Academy. That'll be 2020 yen please."

She paid the driver, and collapsed on the ground worn out from her exhausting journey, and the sheer amount of energy required for sightseeing. Then, she looked up, and what she saw astounded her. In that moment she understood why 'normal' people were not admitted, why it was a school for geniuses, why it was Japan's top, No.1, elite school….

And this was the school that Hotaru went to!

It was enormous, so big that she could not see where the grounds ended. Despite its size the grounds were all walled in, but Mikan could see numerous campus buildings surrounded by forest all around. All in all, it was a very intimidating, and impressive sight.

"No. No." Mikan shook her head to clear it. " I was about to be overwhelmed by its sheer size."

Mikan swallowed. She was here on a mission. No matter what she had to do, she was going to get into this school…or at the very least see Hotaru.

"One for all!" She declared punching the air. She then walked up to the gates, but there was no way to get in from there.

"Excuse me!" She yelled attempting to get the guards attention, but her efforts were all in vain, and Mikan was growing discouraged, she hadn't slept in over 24 hours, and she hadn't eaten since yesterday.

At that point two nice looking, genial men came up to her.

"You look pretty," said the one to her left. "Why are you here all by yourself?"

She looked up at him through bleary eyes, and began to answer…

Unbeknownst to the trio, a distance away leaning against the brick wall, munching nonchalantly on an apple, sat a man with long, blonde, shoulder-length, wavy hair, who found the proceedings very interesting.

"So you want to enter the Academy, but you don't know how? Huh? I see."

'Oh, dearie me,' thought the man. 'I've found a confused little lamb... There are people like that who sweet-talk kids who want to enter the academy, in order to get them to come to a fake school just to get the money…'

"Ugh. How annoying," muttered the man.

For precisely at that moment, a completely deceived Mikan had exclaimed,

"Really? There's a Genius Training School that guarantees entrance into Alice Academy!"

"That's right you'll be able to get into the Academy no problem."

"Truly?!" Mikan jumped up and down in excitement.

"Yes," nodded the other man. "It's a very popular school, and actually, they're not accepting any more students, but since you're so nice, we'll act as mediator to get you in."

"Really?! Wow!"

Mikan was grinning widely. In the back of her mind she could her Hotaru's voice saying,

"Tokyo's a tough place for idiots to live. Are you listening, idiot?"

But Mikan's own mental voice overrode Hotaru's,

'I'd heard Tokyo's a scary place but…there are nice people here. With this, I am one step closer to Hotaru!'

"Let' go!" She shouted jubilantly, and was about to go off with the two men, when they were interrupted by the blonde man.

"Wait a second. I'm sorry to get in the way of your work, but… where do you intend to take this little kitten?"

The man in front of them seemed to emit a faint sparkle, and something about his presence reminded the trio of roses, and romance. Overall, it had quite an odd effect.

"What's with this man?" Asked one of the kidnappers angrily, "Don't get in the way of our business."

The sparkling man chuckled.

"But, I'm a teacher at Alice Academy."

"That's a lie." Mikan, and two men shouted in unison.

"Oh. Why?" Replied the man, nonplussed.

"There's no way a hippie like that's a teacher." One of the men muttered, and made to leave with Mikan in tow. "Come on. Let's go."

"Now wait a minute." The man seemed to sparkle again this time with more intensity, and the kidnappers seemed to be, somehow, entranced. "I don't like lies." The sparkly, blonde man, said sweetly.

And Mikan watched in shock, and awe, as one of the men muttered weakly,

"Uh… Yes, we were just after the money."

The strange man smiled.

"G-oo-db-y-e" he said, enunciating each letter carefully, as her patted the men gently on the cheek.

Again, Mikan watched astounded, as the two men murmured 'yes' weakly, and ran off at full speed. Mikan watched the proceedings trying to make sense of it. Just who or what was this man?

Still smiling, he turned to Mikan, and said,

"That was close." Once again, emitting that distinctive sparkle, he added, "You should also go home now. Quickly."

But, Mikan wasn't listening. She had finally figured it out. The sparkles, his accessories, the way the men had reacted to him…

"I've got it! Sir, are you, possibly, gay?"

The man looked down at her, and muttered under his breath, 'funny,' he looked genuinely confused that she had not responded enthusiastically to his off-hand comment, but nonetheless, he informed her that he was not, in fact, gay, and asked for her story.

Mikan filled him in, and he nodded, asking her questions to confirm his understanding of it.

"So, your name is _Mikan_ Sakura?"

She nodded.

"And you followed your friend all the way to the Academy then?"

"Yes!" Miksn began to feel a bit guilty "…I'm sorry. It wasn't very polite of me to ask you something like that. Especially, after you'd just rescued me. It's just…that you seem so different…"

"It's just because I'm so beautiful that people get confused." He replied, once again emitting that faint sparkle. "More importantly, Mikan, do you feel anything? Do you feel strange? Do you feel anything out of the ordinary at all?"

"Pardon?" Mikan asked perplexed, which only seemed to confuse the teacher more. He was sure he had just used his power than…but it wasn't working…

Mutually intrigued by one another, neither of them noticed a rustling of leaves from above that had occurred without the presence of wind. High above them, standing balanced on the bough of a tall tree near the outer wall within the Academy, was a boy with jet black hair wearing the mask of a black cat, who was imperiously watching the scene below where Mikan was getting something to eat.

"My stomach's completely empty." She said, as she took out a bun from inside a box she was carrying, and offered some to the teacher. "Would you like an Omanjyu?"

He took it absentmindedly, wondering: This child…

He seemed to come to a decision.

"Do you really want to enter the Academy that badly?"

"Yes," Mikan saluted. "I'll do anything from odd jobs to cleaning the toilets. Please let me take the exam."

"Then do you want to try and enroll?"

"Yes!" Mikan blinked. "Yes?"

"I'll enroll you in Alice Academy if you want." He smiled. "You'll have to pass a little test, of course, but I think you'll do just fine."

Mikan stood there for a moment, shocked, as the blonde man chuckled; then she slapped herself, as if trying to determine whether or not she was dreaming. Once she was sure she was not, she jumped a step back, crossed her arms and exclaimed,

"Why? You're trying to trick me!" It seemed as though she had learnt to be a bit more cautious now that she had just narrowly avoided being kidnapped. "Is it really as easy as that?"

"It's truuuly true." The man said, chortling slightly as he thought, I love your reactions.

"But… I'm not a genius or anything."

"It's explained like that to the general public." The Academy teacher explained, "because it's easy to understand. The true meaning of the word 'Alice' is not 'genius,' but 'inborn ablilty.'" Seeing Mikan's dazed expression, he continued further. "This school is a school for the possessors of these distinctive 'inborn abilities.'" He smiled and jokingly added. "I guess you could say this school has the last word on entrance exams that appeal to peope with non-academic talents."

Mikan took a second to digest this.

"Are you saying that I have one of these 'inborn abilities?'"

"Probably, Yes."

The blonde man laughed, and shook his head, at the look on Mikan's face, and added,

"I have one too."

Ecstatic at this new discovery, Mikan took both of the teacher's hands in her own, and jumped up and down in sheer delight, forcing the man to stand up as well, and crying,

"Really? No way! No way! What is it! Show me! Show me!"

The blonde teacher hesitated, teasing her.

"Well, it's hard to tell you with your expectations so high…But if you _really_ want to know…"

"Quickly! Quickly!"

"Then, I'll give you a hint." He winked, but a split-second later there was a loud BAM, and the atmosphere was ruined, as the man fell to the ground, due to the shock wave, and Mikan, being lighter, and less prepared, went flying. Mikan bounced three times, on each bounce thinking: WHAT….ON….EARTH?!

Whereas, all the man from the Academy said was,

"So that notification of a possible escape was true…" as he looked up and say the boy in the cat mask now standing balanced on the top of the brick wall next to the wall he had collapsed. "It's a good thing I kept watch."

"Have a look Mikan." He said pointing. "That's the youngest student in the top class of the Elementary Branch. A genius student: Natsume Hyuuga."

Mikan looked up, and immediately labelled him, perhaps only partially due to the mask, a black cat…

"His 'Alice' is fire." The wavy-haired man concluded, as he took what looked like a bean from out of his pocket. The bean began to grow at an alarming rate, and the teacher muttered under his breath,

"Even so," quite tired of having to do things like this all the time, "this is going a bit too far.

"Natsume!" He shouted as the boy jumped off the wall, and attempted to run. "Escaping is not allowed!" He swung with the hand that carried what looked like an organic whip that had just grown from the bean he had taken out of his pocket. "Justice must prevail!"

SWACK!

The whip made contact with the boy's face, the mask went flying, and the boy landed, groaning on the ground.

"I have a feeling I ruined his pretty little face." Said the man with no change in his happy expression, and Mikan began to wonder if he was a sadist. "At any rate, this bean whip, I borrowed from Mr. Misaki is pretty good."

Mikan shook her head in disbelief and ran over to the boy, concerned, stammering,

"A-are you alright."

The boy glanced up looking angry, and frustrated, like a caged animal. There was a red welt on his cheek from where the whip had hit him which marred his, otherwise, handsome face. The boy didn't respond, but grunting, somehow, summoned a ball of fire in his hand, which the teacher immediately stepped upon saying,

"It's pointless for you to try and use your Alice to escape."

Natsume looked mutinous.

"Before you use your Alice, I'll use mine to have you play that shameful role like you did before."

Hyuuga gritted his teeth, and spat,

"Perverted teacher."

The 'perverted teacher' tugged on Natsume's collar, and pulling him close, blowing softly in his ear, once again emitting that odd glow. Natsume blushed crimson, and collapsed onto the still smiling, blonde man who said quietly,

"I accept your compliment with pride." He looked over at Mikan, who was standing nearby, her head spinning, and continued, "A-l-right, sorry it got a bit rowdy there, Mikan." He hoisted Natsume onto his shoulder, and offered her his hand. "Well, shall we go?"

She took the hand he had proffered, and as the gates she had been trying to enter earlier opened, with a harsh, metallic, grating noise, and the nameless teacher smiled saying,

"Welcome to Alice Academy."

Mikan couldn't help, but wonder: Just what kind of a place is this Academy?!


	2. Alice Academy

**A/N** I proof-read this quite late, and my eyes were drooping. Thus, I apologise in advance for any mistakes I may have made, and I ask you, if you notice any, to please tell me and I will fix it as soon as possible.

Thank you.

**Chapter 2**

**Alice Academy**

The teacher lead Mikan down a long path in the midst of the beautiful, well-kept grounds, leading her, finally, into an exquisite room with large windows, and a high ceiling held up by artistic arches. The room had many comfortable-looking sofas and armchairs, and there were even vases of roses on the end tables.

"Sit wherever you like." The blonde man said. "I have to go report to my superiors regarding your enrollment."

Mikan nodded.

"Just sit here patiently with him," he indicated Natsume, "for now, okay? Adieu."

Mikan nodded again, and, worn out, went to sit down on the sofa that was next to the one Natsume had been laid on composing a letter to Hotaru in her mind.

Dear Miss Hotaru Imai,

I don't know how, but it seems I have, somehow, successfully enrolled in Alice Academy…

Mikan looked down at the unconscious boy lying down on the sofa opposite her. His long bangs were falling down over his closed eyes elegantly, and his mouth was slightly apart, as he breathed slowly. Asleep, he looked quite innocent, unlike his conscious self, who seemed to have a wild look about him... Just…what was this kid?

_"That's the youngest student in the top class of the Elementary Branch. A genius student: Natsume Hyuuga_…

"_His Alice is fire."_

_**SWACK…**_

She sighed. Her head was spinning. Everything that she had seen and heard was swirling around in her mind, and she felt dizzy and overwhelmed. Too much had happened.

She picked up his black cat mask. What was this mask for? A festival?

Then, she put the mask aside as she began to doubt this so-called teacher at Alice Academy. _Should I really trust him? _She thought. _He whips children_... Then he had stepped on that boy's hand… on purpose! Then he had blown into his ear… and the boy had fainted, and hadn't the boy called him "pervert." It was like sexual harassment! …Perhaps that was normal at this school, perhaps this school wasn't safe, and the children were treated cruelly… Was it possible that Hotaru-

BAM!

The door to the room slammed open, and a man with brown hair, so dark it was almost black, wearing a black, polo shirt, and faded, denim jeans burst into the room, carrying a cane over his shoulder shouting,

"Narumi! Are you the one who stole the bean whip from the greenhouse without permission?!"

Shocked and in a vulnerable state of mind, Mikan screeched at the top of her lungs wondering if it was beginning already…

Meanwhile, in the principal's office, "Narumi" was discussing Mikan with the principal.

"An Alice candidate?" The principal confirmed from behind an artfully placed curtain that blocked him from view.

"Yes," Narumi confirmed. "I found her, quite by accident, in front of the school gates…the girl in question is brimming with enthusiasm to enroll…"

"Are you certain, Mr. Narumi?" asked the young voice of the principal.

Narumi nodded, although it was unlikely that the principal could see the gesture through the curtain between them.

"She is girl of ten, and, if my evaluation is correct, then she possesses an extremely rare type of Alice…"

However, back in the room the possessor of 'an extreme;y rare type of Alice' sat trembling with fear, while the man who had just burst into the room in a rage looked extremely embarrassed.

"I'm sorry I startled you." He said awkwardly. "Are you the Alice candidate that Narumi brought in?"

Mikan nodded twice in quick succession.

The man looked around the room still looking considerably embarrassed and out of place.

"I came here, because I heard Narumi was here…." He began, but he trailed off uncomfortably as he looked at Mikan. He nodded stiffly, and mumbled, "I've disturbed you," and made to leave when Mikan grabbed him.

"Um. Excuse me." She stammered, and began to explain all of her fears to the man carrying the cane- who informed her that his name was Mr. Misaki, and that he was the teacher for Biology-very, very quickly.

"He whipped a boy! Swack! Swack!... Stepped on him. Stamp! Stamp! But he's nice and it's hard to doubt him…but still…he's strange."

Mr. Misaki sat down beside her on the sofa, and poured himself some tea from the kettle that was sitting on the coffee table, and, after taking a sip, began to confirm what was bothering her, so as to explain away what was confusing her.

"I see. I see." He nodded twice. "You're really uncertain about whether or not you can trust Narumi?"

Mikan nodded energetically, and, now that she was sure he was listening, she slowed down and explained to him in a more comprehensible manner what she had said previously in what was suddenly becoming an advisory session.

By the time she had finished Mr. Misaki had a rather exasperated expression on his face, as he said, once again, "I see." However, it was plain that this exasperated expression was directed at the teacher called Narumi and not Mikan. He was, in fact, thinking: _Why did he have to do that in front of a commoner?_

Mikan continued in earnest. "My best friend goes to this school. When I-I think that even Hotaru might have encountered such things... a-and… It seems sinister!"

"Just calm down," Mr. Misaki interjected seeing that Mikan was getting far too worked up.

"I couldn't clam down even if I wanted to!" Mikan declared crossing and uncrossing her long pigtails across her face.

The biology teacher sighed. "Then do the death pose." He said.

"The…what?"

"The death pose." He repeated, and soon Mikan was lying on the floor in the yoga death pose, that was said to be good for relaxation, and Mr. Misaki proceeded with his explanation.

"From what I can tell from listening to your story, Narumi acted in such a way to protect Natsume."

"Huh?"

"Natsume is repeat offender of escaping, and trouble making, if, there, he had not been punished or lost consciousness, and had merely been captured, after he had been handed to the higher-ups, he would surely have received an even worse punishment. Natsume was too worked up, and as he might have caused harm to the people around him, how he was dealt with was inevitable."

That made sense. After all, when Mikan had asked him if he was okay, he had glared at her and lit that fire in his hand…

"At first glance, he may seem perverted, but don't worry; the teacher who found out your Alice is not a bad guy." Mr. Misaki concluded kindly, although, he was thinking ruefully to himself_, I really don't like to defend him…_

Mikan, on the other hand, was glad to know that Mr. Narumi wasn't a bad guy after all, and began to munch on the cookies that were on the coffee table.

"By the way, do you know what your Alice is?" Mr. Misaki asked curiously, but the blank stare Mikan gave him was answer enough.

"Of course…" He said cynically thinking that, at any rate, she probably didn't even know what the word 'Alice' meant…

"Oh speaking of which!" Mikan exclaimed interrupting his musings, "I forgot to ask Mr. Narumi what his Alice is."

"Oh him," was the unenthusiastic reply. "His Alice is Pheromonal Inclination."

"Pheromonal Inclination?"

The dark-haired teacher poured himself some more tea before answering.

"It's an ability that allows him to scatter pheromones around that enthrall his victim regardless of gender." He also muttered under his breath, so that Mikan could just barely hear him. "Honestly, the Alice is nauseating just like he is…" He took a sip of tea and continued. "If he feels like it, the creep can even use his pheromones to wrap his victims around his little finger… If a kid, who is not immune to love is subjected to the creep's pheromones, he or she will become indecorously limp, or will even faint." Mr. Misaki sighed. "Even so, apparently, he normally uses a regulation earring to suppress his pheromones.

"There are also others, kids in this Academy, that possess many and varied types of Alices. From the widely known possessors of telekinesis and clairvoyance to Alices that are so ridiculous you might think they were a joke…" He then added a rather interesting example sounding quite thoughtful as he did so. "There was a kid who had a super-fart that caused people to faint…

"This Academy gathers those who have excelled past normal humans and have mysterious powers, and is a place where these people are raised and taken care of. 'Alice' is just a word we use to refer to such people, and their abilities."

Mikan listened intently, enthralled. It all sounded so amazing. These "Alices" sounded great.

"Wow! That's amazing! You mean, I'm one of these amazing people? It's like I'm in a Manga!"

She tugged on Mr. Misaki's shirt, ignoring his look of shock at her forwardness, and demanded,

"Teacher, Teacher, then what kind of Alice do I have?"

"That, I don't know."

This statement drew Mikan up short, and she looked at Mr. Misaki inquiringly as he stood up saying,

"The one who figured out your Alice is Narumi, when you see him, ask him yourself."

"Hmm…"

At that same moment, in a different area of the school, near the greenhouses, a boy, with short blonde hair, and blue eyes, appeared to be summoning a large bird which landed beside him. Next, he called another smaller bird, which fluttered to his arm. The boy seemed able to communicate with this small bird somehow, nodding his head at something the bird said or rather, chirped. The boy nodded once more, and sent the smaller bird away before turning back to the larger bird to which he began to give instructions….

"Oh! By the way, what is this mask for?" Mikan asked back in the room with Mr. Misaki, whom she had prevented from leaving, due to her incessant questions. "It's kind of cute."

Mr. Misaki, a true introvert, was getting tired, and his shoulders slumped as he looked down at the black cat mask. '…kind of cute." She had called it. _Remember,_ the Biology teacher reminded himself. _She's a girl…A girl…It's natural that she would find it 'cute'…_

"You jump from one topic to the next." He complained before answering. "It's an Alice prevention mask."

"Prevention?" Mikan asked tilting her head to one side.

"It will completely seal the Alice of whoever's wearing it. This mask is reserved for the punishment of dangerous people, and once it is turned on, the wearer cannot take it off by him or herself.

"There are some students whose Alices can pose a risk. This makes it easier to mark them. They say 'avoid black cats,' right?"

Mikan glanced at the sleeping boy on the sofa, and she couldn't help but think that no boy who looked so peaceful, and calm like that could be a dangerous person.

Perhaps Mr. Misaki knew what she was thinking, because, seemingly as an afterthought, he added,

"Although for Natsume, if he really puts his mind to it, he could render such a mask useless."

Just then, Mr. Misaki's phone beeped. He flipped it open, and found an urgent message:

"There's an intruder in the greenhouse. This won't do!" He looked at Mikan. "Some urgent business has cropped up, so we'll have to part here."

He ran to the door, placed his hand on the doorknob and stopped. Looking over his shoulder, he said,

"Oh! You!"

"Yes!" Mikan saluted.

"I'm going to send someone over here soon to handle the situation, but if Natsume wakes up before someone comes, push that emergency switch immediately." He pointed out the red switch on the wall. "Understand? Do it without fail."

And he left, leaving Mikan alone thinking about dangerous people, and the superstitions in regard to black cats...

Mikan stared intently at the sleeping form of Natsume Hyuuga. He was a dangerous person…

She squeezed his nose. He didn't wake. Mikan smiled and turned around, putting on the cat mask as she did so. He hadn't woken up; she was fine. She giggled and took the mask off, and, as she did so, she didn't notice that a bleary red-eye was watching her calculatingly from behind…

What kind of Alice did she have? She wondered. What kind of Alice did Hotaru have? Come to think of it, she would be seeing Hotaru soon! So much had happened to Mikan that she had almost forgotten. She took a small photo album out of her backpack, and looked at the different pictures of her and Hotaru feeling quite content… She had just leaned forward to kiss one of the pictures-

When, out of nowhere, a hand tugged on one of her pigtails, pulling her off the floor and making her feel as though her hair was being ripped out by the roots. The sensation did not stop until she had been slammed forcefully against the sofa on which Natsume had, previously, been sleeping.

Mikan barely had time to acknowledge her pain, and take in what had happened though, before the boy was on top of her still clutching her pigtail tightly in his hand. Natsume Hyuuga had her pinned tightly underneath him, and it soon became quite clear that he had a great deal of experience in pinning people into place so that they could barely move, let alone escape. Hence, even Mikan, who was quite athletic, was unable to break free.

Mikan stared up at the boy, and looked into his, oddly familiar, red eyes. Idly, it crossed her mind that while red eyes ought to have been demonic and scary, they actually looked quite attractive on Hyuuga…Well, scratch that. They _were_ demonic and scary, but they were also, still, quite attractive. Regardless, looking into his eyes now, Mikan knew why he was labeled as dangerous. Now that he wasn't asleep, Natsume Hyuuga had a crazed, wild look about him. He was, evidently, a loose cannon.

"Answer me in five seconds," Natsume said in a hoarse, gruff, worn voice that sounded like it belonged to someone who had seen and endured much more than any boy of ten should. "If you don't answer, I'll burn this hair." He indicated the pigtail he was holding, and asked, forcefully, "Who are you?"

Mikan gasped in shock, and fear, but refused to answer on principle, not knowing what was to come, or how out of control the situation was…

Indeed, had she chosen to look out of the window at that moment, she would have seen Mr. Misaki breathing quickly as he jogged towards the greenhouse, stopping as he saw above him a giant eagle, or was it a hawk? carrying a ring in it's talons… a ring to which a boy with blonde hair was clutching tightly… A ring from which the boy flung himself, crashing, feet-first, his arms shielding his eyes, through a window, into the room where Natsume was... And, had Mikan not been distracted at that moment, she would also have registered the look of horror on Mr. Misaki's face as he realized that he had been tricked...

As it was, Mikan saw nothing except the extraordinary sight of a boy with short, blonde hair crashing through the window. Both she and Natsume looked over to see the boy, sitting on the floor, rubbing his head that had cracked painfully against the window upon his landing.

Mikan tried to use the distraction to escape, but Natsume was prepared for that, and pressed a hand down painfully onto the side of Mikan's face. Then, he looked over at the groaning boy and said brusquely,

"You're late Ruka."

The boy, evidently called Ruka, looked up at Natsume clearly annoyed,

"Really," he said angrily, although his voice was soft, "whose fault do you think that is, Natsume?" It couldn't have been clearer that Ruka was re-thinking his choice to come and help Natsume… In response, Natsume shifted his position so that he was sitting on Mikan, his hand still pressed against her face, and facing Ruka. However, an argument was averted when Ruka asked curiously,

"What are you doing? Who's that?"

Mikan was, of course, thinking the same thing about Ruka, but it appeared she wasn't going to get any answers. She just hoped that someone came soon.

"She was here when I woke up. She refuses to reveal her identity." Natsume shifted back to his original position facing Mikan, and Ruka stood up to have closer look at her too, as if she were some new animal in the zoo.

"Is the girl an Alice?"

"No clue…. At any rate, she won't listen to what I say, so I thought I'd make her cry." Natsume glanced up at Ruka, and said, in an almost bored tone, "Wanna take her underwear off?"

"Hmm." Ruka sat back on the windowsill to watch the proceedings, while Mikan screamed and writhed beneath Natsume trying, in vain, to get free, occasionally insulting him and calling him "bastard."

Perhaps this touched some part of Ruka, and he became concerned about Mikan, or perhaps he simply was concerned for Natsume, or maybe he was just curious…or both…or all three! But, whatever the reason, halfway through the struggle, he asked,

"Why don't you just use your Alice to intimidate her?

Natsume didn't even spare him a look as he replied,

"I have been using it from before, but I still can't muster the strength to do it yet."

Suddenly, the threesome heard the sounds of arguing voices from outside.

"Someone's coming," warned Ruka.

Natsume glanced over at the double doors.

"Shit," he spat forcefully.

The doors flew open with a loud bang, and Mr. Misaki, and Narumi rushed in.

"Are you all right, Mikan?" the latter asked, as Ruka muttered, "I'm leaving," and made to jump out of the broken window.

In answer, Mikan went running to Mr. Narumi, crying, pigtails flying out behind her, into his arms.

"Natsume! Ruka!" shouted Mr. Misaki at the same time.

The boys looked up at the sound of their names. Ruka said nothing, but Natsume smirked,

"See ya. Polka Dot Panties," he said, and he dropped the panties he had removed from Mikan, and jumped out the window after Ruka.

Mikan was speechless, and the most Narumi was able to manage was a blank, toneless,

"They took it off you?"

A few seconds passed before Mikan was able to speak, and react, however, when she did, she did so with great zeal.

"Nooooo," she shouted, and began to sob, and hiccup. She was tired. She hadn't slept in so long, at least twenty-four hours. She was in a new, foreign place. She was still hungry. She had no idea where Hotaru was. She had been overwhelmed by so many new things, and to top it all off, she had had her underwear forcibly removed by a dangerous pervert…

Well…Can anyone blame her?

"There, there Mikan, don't cry," Narumi said, smiling uneasily, "Getting you panties taken off is no big deal…You'll do a lot more when you're older."

Mr. Misaki gave him a disdainful glance,

"I think it's a big deal."

And that, it certainly was to Mikan, who had grown up in a small, country village, with an elderly, old-fashioned, former monk.

"Now, I can't become a wife!" She wailed.

Narumi chuckled uncomfortably,

"Oh, it's okay. When the time comes, I'll have Natsume take responsibility."

Mr. Misaki just gave him another look, and opened his mouth, perhaps to say that there was no way Narumi could control Natsume, or that maybe Mikan wouldn't want to marry him…for obvious reasons…or both, but he seemed to think better of it, and closed his mouth quickly, and continued with his glaring.

Narumi appeared not to have noticed, and placed a school uniform in front of Mikan, who looked up at it still sniffing somewhat, but distracted enough that the flow of tears had decreased.

Narumi smiled at her,

"Here," he said. "You're crying face doesn't suit you. This is your new uniform Mikan, so why don't you hurry up and get changed."

Mikan nodded, and wiped the tears from her eyes, reminding herself that she didn't have time to be crying, as she put on her new uniform. The shirt was black, with a white, square collar, complete with a red ribbon, and a knee-length, red, plaid skirt.

"It looks good." Mr. Misaki said stiffly, but not unkindly after she had finished getting dressed. Mikan gave him a weak, half-smile, and chuckle in response before Mr. Narumi picked her up, and swung her around making her laugh openly, as he declared that she was, "Cutest in the world…"

Mr. Misaki was just relieved that she had cheered up. He had felt somewhat guilty about what had happened, as he had been the one to leave her alone in the room.

Narumi set Mikan down, and clapped his hands together,

"Now Mikan, about your entrance to Alice Academy, it's been approved. We will contact your family for you."

Mikan threw her hands into the air shouting,

"Hooray!"

"Hooray." Mr. Misaki had also joined in a tad late, and with, truth be told, a rather bored, and dull voice, as if he were embarrassed to be doing something so childish, but felt that he was obligated to join in.

Narumi smiled again, "But you'll have a trial session."

"Hooray!" But then Mikan realized what Mr. Narumi had said, and froze mid wave with Mr. Misaki, but Mr. Narumi did not stop smiling even as Mikan did.

"You need to pass a test during your one week trial."

"An entrance exam?" Mikan repeated dully, and miserably.

"Don't worry. It's easy." Mr. Narumi assured her. "All you need to do is be accepted as a member of Class B by you classmates. We will track your progress, and decide your Alice level."

Mikan flung her arms up into the air,

"That's it?!"

"That's it." Mr. Narumi confirmed with a wide smile, and a thumbs up, and Mr. Misaki was reminded irrepressibly of a T.V. commercial. Especially as they began to say back and forth, laughing things like,

"Yay!"

"That's so easy!"

"Isn't it!" Oh dear, those two were just alike…

Then there came a knock on the door, and they heard the sound of a smooth, mature, voice say,

"Excuse us. We are the two class representatives of the Elementary Division, Class B."

Narumi glanced over his shoulder at the door.

"Ah, they're here!"

Two students, a boy and a girl walked into the room.

"How may we help you?" asked the girl in front who had short-cut, black hair, and violet eyes.

Mikan gasped.

"Ho-Hotaru!" she cried.

"Ugh," was her best friends reply, and rude though it may have sounded, it made it clear that Hotaru was shocked for never before had she been caught dead saying anything so unsophisticated during such a formal meeting.

Narumi, too, was clearly shocked,

"Huh?"

However, when no one said anything, and Hotaru and Mikan continued to stare at each other, both, particularly Mikan, still lost in their own world, he just said, awkwardly,

"Well, let's just head toward the Elementary Division then, shall we?" Thus, two shocked girls, a confused Narumi, a completely bewildered Mr. Misaki, and a perplexed class representative boarded a school bus that brought them from the Main Campus to the Elementary Division of Alice Academy, and eventually, as the five stepped off the bus, Narumi cottoned on,

"I see! So, Mikan's best friend is Hotaru Imai!"

Precisely at that moment, Mikan began to walk slowly towards Hotaru saying,

"Hotaru, I wanted to see you so much," even as Hotaru began backing slowly away, for once, a step behind Mikan mentally, saying, mumbling to herself,

"Why is Mikan here?"

Mikan tears of joy streaming down her face flung herself onto Hotaru…but missed as Hotaru dodged her saying,

"Don't come near me nose-drip girl!"

"Are they really best friends?" asked Mr. Misaki as he observed the scene.

Narumi's enthusiastic reply: "Hmm…"

"I bet 1,000 yen they're not?" put in the male class representative, as Hotaru pushed Mikan away, and said,

"The Mikan I knew was much prettier," although, Hotaru, for the life of her, sill could not wrap her head around the fact the Mikan was _there…_even though she _shouldn't_ be…

Mikan stopped dead. Of course, Hotaru wanted her to always keep smiling. She dried her eyes, slapped herself, and pulled her cheeks, forcing herself to smile.

"Is this okay then?" She asked keeping the wide smile on her face as she said proudly, "I wanted to see you so badly, Hotaru, so I travelled all the way here! ...Hotaru?" she added hesitantly, "Can I hug you?"

Hotaru put on one of her tiny smiles, one of those that usual only appeared in Mikan's presence and said quietly, her light purple eyes sparkling for once hinting at the well-hidden happiness and love she felt,

"I guess there aren't that many fools, who would come to this place just because they wanted to see a friend…You surprised me…Come here, Dummy."

Once again tears of pure joy filled Mikan's eyes even as she smiled, and flung herself onto Hotaru, who, for once, did not protest, and Mikan did not let go until they were right outside Class B.

Mr, Narumi, who had lead them there smiled bemusedly at the sight. Mikan had her arms wrapped tightly around Hotaru's neck and Hotaru was not responding in any way, shape, or form.

"I can't tell whether your relationship is _aus_picious or _sus_picious…." He muttered shaking his head.

"Well, anyway." He pointed at the door above which hung a large letter 'B,' "We've arrived at the classroom. So, Mikan, go make some friends." And, on that happy note, he waved a hand in farewell and set off down the hallway.

"Um…Miss Sakura?" The other class representative-who wore glasses, and had dirty blonde hair, and kind, brown eyes- asked hesitantly. "I'm our class representative Yuu Tobita, but everyone calls me Class Rep."

"Nice to meet you." Mikan replied, bowing and letting Hotaru go.

"Everything might seem a little confusing of course." Continued the soft-spoken boy, "since you've transferred here from a regular Elementary school, but please don't be too shocked." The Class Rep smiled, and went to open the double doors. "Welcome to Class B, Mikan Sakura."

And as Mikan looked in on the chaotic sight, she felt that asking her not to be shocked… or even _too_ shocked was asking _way_ too much…


End file.
